DESIGNING EXPERIENCES FOR

EMERGENT SITUATIONS

CRISIS UX

BY COLIN EAGAN, M.S.

COLIN EAGANPLEASED TO MEET YOU.

EXPERIENCE DESIGNER | WASHINGTON, D.C.

@colineags #uxpa2015

e·mer·gent*ˈ

TODAY’S FOCUS

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THAT COULD MEAN…

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VICIOUS CYCLE

YOU FREAK OUT

USERS FREAK OUT

TODAY WE WILL DISCUSS...

HOW TO COMMUNICATE DURING TROUBLED TIMES

HOW TO DESIGN FOR USERS YOU HAVE LET DOWN

UNDERSTANDING THE SOURCE OF USER FRUSTRATION

A USE CASE THAT WILL MAKE YOUR PROBLEMS SEEM VERY SMALL

Browsing the stacks at Holland House Library, London, day after a Luftwaffe air raid -- September, 1940

(Today’s Topic)

FOR UPS AND FEDEX, A PERFECT STORM WAS

BREWING.

DECEMBER 22, 2013.

THREE BIG PROBLEMS

Jump in package volume overwhelmed distribution centers.Photo Credit: NY Times

Photo Credit: NY TimesStorms grounded planes.

Photo Credit: NY TimesAnd stranded trucks…

“It’s like a game of chess where the pieces are planes and trucks.”Photo Credit: NY Times

Photo Credit: NY Times

Packages were delayed.

Last minute promises from retailers couldn’t possibly be fulfilled. Photo Credit: NY Times

COME CHRISTMAS MORNING…

-- Via NBC News

BACKLASH

SO WHAT DID THE COMPANIES DO?

THEY SUCKED IT UP.

BOTH COMPANIES SPENT THE NEXT YEAR MAKING SURE THIS DID NOT HAPPEN AGAIN. SPECIFICALLY, UPS:

• Improved Volume Forecasting • (Read: bringing the hammer down on retailers.)

• Improved Network capacity.• 50 new hub sorts increasing capacity by about 2.5 million

pieces per day. • Added more than 6,000 new package cars• 1,000 new LNG (liquefied natural gas) tractors • More than 11,000 trailers. • Expect to hire between 90,000 and 95,000 seasonal

employees to handle the extra volume. • Focused web improvements We’ll look at this

http://compass.ups.com/how-UPS-is-preparing-for-the-2014-holiday-season/

$500,000,000How much UPS spent in 2014 to avoid repeat.

Source: New York Times.

YOU, TOO, WILL HAVE YOUR OWN SNOWMAGEDON ONE DAY.

AND YOU WILL NEED TO STAY CALM.

HERE ARE SOME LESSONS LEARNED THE HARD WAY.

LESSON 1 // UX CRISIS MANAGEMENT

BE AS TRANSPARENT

Truth will set you free.

AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN

MANY USER PROBLEMS BEGAN WITH DISAPOINTMENT, BUT WERE COMPOUNDED BY UNCERTAINTITY

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NEW SITE-WIDE ALERTS AND UPDATE PAGE

LESSON: DON’T HIDE BEHIND CORPORATE SPEAK

• Destination scan • Held by Origin Location • Hold • In Transit • Consignee • Exception • Redirect • Guarantee

IMPROVED TRACKING DESIGN

WRITING FOR SENSITIVE SITUATIONS

http://alistapart.com/article/dont-poke-the-bear-creating-content-for-sensitive-situations

EXAMPLE: NOTIFYING CUSTOMER YOU

ARE CLOSING HIS / HER ACCOUNT

http://alistapart.com/article/dont-poke-the-bear-creating-content-for-sensitive-situations

NOT GREATDear valued customer, we have sent you three notices, and we have not received any payment from you since December 2012.

We have to take certain actions when customers fail to pay their bills.

We had to close your account because your balance is six months past due.

We understand that you depend on our service, but we can’t let balances go past six months due.

BETTER

Calmly and quickly get to the point

Use empathy to normalize the situation. Use specifics where possible

ANTI-PATTERN:

BAD ERROR MESSAGES,I.E. STRESSFUL CONDITIONS

MADE MUCH WORSE

ANYONE TRY WINDOWS 8?

YES. NO. WAIT…

ACTUALLY NOT AWFUL.

DEPENDING ON YOUR BRAND, HUMOR CAN HELP

LEARN FROM THE PROS

Source: Entrepreneur.com

1. Listen patiently.2. Show empathy.3. Lower the voice and slow

down speech.4. Imagine an audience.5. Be wrong to be right (agree

even if it’s irrational)6. Demonstrate emotional

control.7. Remember it’s not personal.8. Pretend it’s “a game.”

USEFUL TOOL: CONTENT MATRIX

LESSON 2 // UX CRISIS MANAGEMENT

CONSIDER LESS-THAN-

Get out of fantasy land.

IDEAL USER FLOWS

CUSTOMER JOURNEYS ARE OFTEN BIASED TOWARD THE “HAPPY PATH”

WHY ARE PEOPLE IN PERSONASALWAYS

SMILING?Seriously, have you noticed this?

Is this really your accounting team?.

Is this really your accounting team?.

Or is this your accounting team.

KEYWORD ANALYSIS: FIND “REAL LANGUAGE”

NEW HOLIDAY HELP CENTER

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LESSON 3 // UX CRISIS MANAGEMENT

WHATEVER YOU DO, PLEASE

What kind of UX person are you anyway.

DON’T BLAME YOUR USERS

THE TYLENOL MURDERS

Learn from:

THE TYLENOL MURDERS

DON’T BLAME YOUR USERS

VIA ENTREPENEUR.COM, MARCH 03, 2014

VIA ENTREPENEUR.COM, MARCH 03, 2014

BETTER!

HELP USERS BE PROACTIVE NEXT TIME

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LESSON 4 // UX CRISIS MANAGEMENT

CONSIDER THE PSYCOLOGY

They don’t always think like you like to think they always think.

BEHIND STRESSFUL DECISIONS

UNDERSTAND HOW PAIN IS PROCESSED

EXPERIENCING SELF REMEMBERING SELF

THE TWO MINDS

What we think customers use What they actually use

AUTOMATIC MINDWhat we think customers use

REFLECTIVE MINDWhat they actually use

- Forrester Research. Design Enjoyable Experiences Now by John Dalton, July 10, 2012

“The experiencing self does not have a voice. The remembering self is sometimes wrong, but it is the one that keeps score and governs what we learn from living.”

“The ‘peak-end’ rule shows that a person’s memory of a painful experience can be reliably predicted by the average of the level of pain reported at the worst moment of the experience and the level of pain reported at the end. Remarkably, the research also shows that the duration of the pain had no effect on the individual’s evaluation of total pain.”

--Source: Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2011, p. 381.

THE PEAK-END RULE

“IF YOU’VE EVER BEEN TO A MOVIE AND

ENJOYED 50 MINUTES OF BLISS ONLY

TO HAVE IT ALL RUINED BECAUSE A

BABY STARTED CRYING NEAR THE END,

THEN YOU’RE WELL AWARE OF THE FACT

THAT WE ARE SADDLED WITH TWO

CONFLICTING SELVES.”

“IT TAKES 20 YEARS TO BUILD A

REPUTATION AND FIVE MINUTES TO

RUIN IT. IF YOU THINK ABOUT THAT,

YOU’LL DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY.”

-WARREN BUFFETT

WHAT TO DO

Sensing that its parking arrangements might be damaging the overall client experience, health care provider Kaiser Permanente spent 30 days analyzing Twitter activity to gauge customer impressions. Sure enough, there was a significant displeasure.

They didn’t hate the healthcare experience, they simply hated the parking – and the parking lot was where the interaction always ended!

-- Via Jared Spool

-- Via Jared Spool

USAA ANTICIPATES USER STRESS

Via Forrester

CLICK ANALYSIS ON CUSTOMER SERIVCE

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NEW CUSTOMER SERVICE DESIGN

• Introduced new chat

feature

• Re-prioritized links

based on usage

• Added clarification for

users on when to use

• Prioritized “Self-Help”

links to web content

(hint: customer service

loves this)

DARKARTSAh shit.

OH CRAP WE REALLY SCREWED UP.

Remember the BP oilrig disaster?

DO YOU HAVE A “DARK SITE”?

DARK SITE CHARACTERISTICS

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FINALLY, PLEASE REMEMBER:

YOU WILL NEVER MAKE EVERYONE

HAPPY.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ups-fedex-got-back-on-time-this-holiday-1419886180

Up 11%

GOING BACK TO OUR LITTLE STORY…

GREAT FOR CUSTOMERS!

“Peak plans were designed to provide high quality service for volume surges. The extra capacity was necessary to process the extreme spike in package volume on Cyber Monday and peak day, Dec. 22. However, demand was less than expected on other days. This resulted in a sub-optimized network during peak season, UPS said. A decline in productivity, increased contract carrier rates, as well as costs associated with overtime and training hours contributed to the excess cost.”

BAD FOR “SHAREHOLDERS.”

SCREW IT.

@colineags #uxpa2015

THANK YOUYOU ARE GREAT.

COLIN EAGAN, M.S. | WASHINGTON, D.C.

@colineags #uxpa2015